(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Fri 5 December 2025 14:49, UK
There’s something truly spellbinding about Stevie Nicks.
She’s the perennial witchy woman of the 1970s and has since become utterly entangled i the spiritual side of the occult. Far from sinister, Nicks instead feels like a wondrous blend of patchouli-soaked star sign brilliance. A zodiac queen in so many senses of the world, there is good reason that Nicks is often thought of as an ethereal being on earth.
Nicks has been thought of a spiritual being for many decades now, even gaining a spot as head witch on American Horror Story: The Coven. But while lace and a penchant for spinning in a circle on stage can make audiences fall for you as an icon of supernatural importance, Nicks has done her fair share of work too, becoming the first female double Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as a by-product of her acclaimed career in the music industry. But, she’s human, and attached to every fascination and flaw we humans endure.
Sex has always been a tricky subject to write about. While some artists speak very literally of the act, some try to dress it up, shrouding it in metaphor to make it sound much more poetic than just bumping uglies. Mick Fleetwood is one of these people, as he was intent on not referring to genitalia literally, opting for the term “tusk” instead of “penis”.
‘Tusk’ was released on the 1979 Fleetwood Mac album of the same name. Mick Fleetwood was proud of how he had subtly referenced the male privates, so much so that he was happy for it to be a titular song. Stevie Nicks, however, objected. Was this because the title was uninspired and crude? Was it because of how bland an album title Tusk is? Not exactly.
“I didn’t understand the title. There was nothing beautiful or elegant about the word ‘Tusk’,” she said. “It really brought to mind those people stealing ivory. Even then, in 1979, you just thought, the rhinos are being poached and that tusks are being stolen and the elephants are being slaughtered and ivory is being sold on the black market.”
Mick Fleetwood’s subtle reference to the penis may well have been a bit too subtle, as it turns out even his bandmates didn’t get it. This is one of the pitfalls that artists face when they write in metaphor; often, their message becomes too abstract, to the point that the original meaning the metaphor is supposed to be representing is lost entirely.
Stevie Nicks was one of those people, as she said, “I don’t recall it being [slang], that went right over my prudish little head. I wasn’t told that until quite a while after the record was done, and when I did find out, I liked the title even less!”
We often see musicians in a different light to the everyday person. When tens of thousands of people are willing to part with money to see them perform in a matter of minutes, it is hard to place Stevie Nicks on a similar level to our own. So, if you ever want to remind yourself that these musicians are human just like us, remember that dick jokes and heavy metaphors go over their heads exactly like they go over ours.
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